The Instant Pot Starter Guide for Me and You

I love my Instant Pot and use it weekly to cook grains and dried beans – I tell fellow vegetarians that if you find no other use for an IP try this. Am starting to move into soups and stews with the onset of winter, mainly just by playing around with my usual favorites and trying them in the IP instead of stovetop. As a vegetarian, I feel I have to work harder to find “main dish” recipes for it (same with my crockpot), so I’m really excited to see what you cook! I have made a few recipes from the cookbook “Vegan Under Pressure” by Jill Nussinow and recommend it.

While I’m drawn to these multi-cookers, I’m having a hard time justifying the purchase and having another appliance around. I have a slow cooker that I use maybe twice a month; I’m retired and time is not usually an issue for me; I love to cook and try new recipes. Can anyone give me a good argument for why I should buy one? Thanks!

Thanks so much- I missed the cyber Monday deal but hope to get an IP soon. I have to say, I received a Breville Fast Slow Cooker as a gift and it’s been a huge disappointment. Very uneven. I thought that maybe because it had too many functions, and toyed with the idea of getting just a plain ol’ slow cooker. But after reading so many great reviews- and now yours- I think I am sold.

HS: Hi Susan! I plan on playing around with the Breville a bit as well at some point. I’ll let you know what I think! So far, I’m into the IP, and am going to play with the slow cooker function this week – more soon!

I have mine for about a year, and haven’t used it much. I find that many recipes I find are not all that healthy (i.e. heavy on sauce (and spice), neither of which I like) but some of the ones on your links look good. Yogurt was one of the reasons i bought it, but once I looked at the instructions, I decided to stick to my “heat, cool, put into glass jars in the oven with the oven light on” method. it actually takes less time than the IP yogurt recipe.

HS: Hi Peri – I’m hoping I can come up with some recipes that tick all the good boxes! 🙂

You missed some of the best sources of Ip recipes -especially for newbies: this old gal, pressure luck, two sleevers, dad cooks dinner, nom nom paleo. Tried and true recipes!

HS: Thanks Nancy – I’ll try to do some recipe highlights in the future that highlight their veg-centric recipes!

Hi Heidi, I’d be curious to learn of your experience making yogurt in the IP. I use two aging Salton 1-qt. yogurt makers no longer available except when one stumbles upon them on eBay or in a thrift store. They’re great, making delicious, creamy yogurt, but I doubt they’ll last another 25 years! Getting a workable alternative yogurt maker with the IP may just tip me over to the “actual” last convert! p.s. I love your attachment to cooking tools – I share that particular obsession.

I love my Instant Pot so much and am always looking for new recipes–thanks for those links! Things I use it for the most: boiled eggs–so easy to peel. Melissa Clark has great instructions in her book. Dried beans–since I presoak, I just put them in the cooker with water, salt, and any aromatics the night before, and set the timer so they are ready when I get home from work. Steel cut oats: setting the cooker the night before and having oatmeal ready for the kids in the morning when they get up has been a game changer (I try to time it so it isn’t left on “warm” too long as they start to stick on the bottom after a while). And if all else fails, you can whip up a pot of red lentil soup in about 20 minutes flat. Have fun tinkering!

I have owned an Instant Pot for about a year and a half now, and I’m still learning the ins and outs of it! Surprisingly, I really like the slow cooker function. My slow cooker bit the dust a few months ago, and I love that I have one less appliance taking up room in my cupboards. Haha!

Thank you for the resources! i bought one, not sure if I should give it to my granddaughter who does not cook, or keep it for me. I am at the same point, I have a lot of appliances and question if I need one more, but I do feel like I need a pressure cooker and the IP seemed like a logical choice since there are many recipes. I have trusted your blog and cookbooks for several years so thank you for verifying my choice!

Thanks thanks …. I really needed this introduction in one place altogether. Even if I’m part of the Fb group where is easy to follow and can ask in the moment any question.
The more you know of IP is essential to use it for the everyday simple cooking.
Thanks again!! (From Santiago, Chile)

I bought an Instant Pot last year on Black Friday, and ended up returning it after reading the instructions and also seeing how big it was. I have a small kitchen and decided I didn’t want to devote the space to this appliance. I am a vegetarian and beyond cooking beans and grains, didn’t see much use for it. Maybe I could steam eggs, but I have no problem doing that with a stovetop pot and steam rack. And I love having a pot of beans slowly cooking on the stove on a winter day! I hope you are happy with your purchase, and I’m sure you will come up with lots of original uses for it. Maybe I’ll even be convinced at some point that it’s worth getting!

I jokingly call mine the risotto maker as it is the only thing I have found it useful for in the last year of owning it. I will admit we have risotto about once a week now however, so I have gotten use out of it. I actually enjoy having a pot of soup simmering on the stove or something in the dutch oven roasting.

The InstantPot is an absolutely GAME CHANGER.
Hands down… It is FRICKEN LIFE-CHANGING!
We now own two! Haha.

I’m so curious what you’re going to make in this thing! I’ve been trying to get a feel for how the IP would be better suited to cook vegetarian meals than the good old Dutch oven and haven’t really been convinced yet.

Those of us with Instant Pots can never get enough. Thank you! I have one little tip that may or may not be covered in your resources… To use your Instant Pot as a slow cooker, you have to ditch the pressure cooker lid altogether and either order the IP glass lid or find one in your kitchen that fits. For some strange reason, it will not generate enough heat to cook anything, even over 10 hours, if you have the IP lid on. Happy cooking, Heidi! I’ll be watching for some tasty H. Swanson IP recipes!

thank you for this…. i found your site when I was a stay at home mom with a limited budget for food, and i wanted to be gourmet… your journal has helped me be gourmet and healthy. i am super grateful for your site. and now i want that instant pot! thank you!

HS: Thanks for the nice note Emily! Much appreciated. xo!

I ordered the same one as you and it is out for delivery today so this couldn’t be more timely! I will bookmark this page and come back to it when I need to, and I’ll also check back to see what you’re doing with it. Thanks for this list of resources.

I LOVE my instant pot. I use it once a week a marathon cooking/cleaning session – a week of steel cut oats, a week’s worth of brown rice, and whatever soup flavor I’m in the mood for (curried cauliflower, chili, and a potato leek have been on constant rotation the past few months). Within 3 hours, I have plenty of food for the week, and my condo is sparkling since I clean during the pressure process! Looking forward to seeing what you use yours for (maybe an experiment with vegan yogurt??).

Thanks for this comprehensive resource Heidi. I bought the Breville Multi Chef a few months ago (mainly for different kinds of rice) and it is amazing, cooks any kind of rice in about 12 minutes. But have been looking and looking at Instant Pot wondering whether it will be worth all the hype especially because of the no-meat vegetarian aspect of cooking on most days. Would it really eliminate the need for say a rice cooker, a pressure cooker and a slow cooker? Because that alone should free up a lot of bench/cabinet space. Only problem is, we don’t get the Instant Pot here in Australia (just like every other thing out there, we are the last ones to get anything of interest). Will probably have to get one from Amazon UK and replace the cable. It all comes down to whether it is worth all the extra effort. I am very keen to hear how you go with your cooking and will keep an eye out for updates on this post. Love from down under! x

This is fantastic – thank you for posting this! I’ve had my IP for almost a year but have remained a little intimated. I have made some wonderful things (Bare root girl’s Maple Smoked Brisket, for instance) but the thing I make again and again is bone broth. So easy and comes out perfectly every time. I buy “soup bones” (and even chicken feet!) from a local rancher and co-op I’m a part of or I’ll just use carcasses left over from roasting. I fill with filtered water to just shy of the max line (to make room for the veggies I add in later) and pour in 2T apple cider vinegar and let sit for 30min to 1 hour to extract the minerals and gelatin. Then i add a couple of chopped carrots and celery, a few smashed garlic cloves and an onion quartered (skin on for color!), close the lid, set to “soup” mode (high pressure for 2 hrs) and let it automatically switch to warm mode overnight (up to 10 hrs). I strain, cool and jar the next morning! I usually get close to 4 quarts of broth ready to sip, cook with or freeze for later!

I own a similar multi-cooker and I use it at least twice a week. I love it. Your Rasam recipe (which is incredible) works beautifully this way.